Buckle



(No Model.)

B. LATHAM.

BUCKLE.

'No. 430,078. Patented June 10,- 1890.

u'mo summon, m c.

NITED STATES ATE FICE EPHRAIM LATHAM, OF IVASHINGTON, DISTRICT OFCOLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR,

BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE UNITED STATES HAR- NESS ANDMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF VIRGINIA.

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.-430,078, dated June 10,1890.

Application filed June 6, 1889. Serial No. 313,309. (No model.)

To on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EPHRAIM LATHAM, a citizen of the United States,residing at ashington, in the District of Columbia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Buckles; and I do hereby declarethe following to be afull, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of harness-buckles in which a fixedstud serves as the tongue; and its object is to provide means wherebysuch a buckle is adapted to I 5 serve both as a fastener for permanentlysecuring portions of harness together instead of sewing them, either inthe original manufacture or in repairing breaks, and to serve instead ofthe loose-tongued buckle where fastening and unfastening of straps isfrequently required, and, further, to adapt the same to be castwithout acore. 7

To this end my invention consists in a buckle of peculiar shape andarrangement of parts in one piece of metal, as hereinafter described andclaimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure I is a perspective view of my buckle. Fig. II shows alongitudinal vertical section thereof, and Fig. III is a plan view ofthe same. Fig. IV showsa side view of the same buckle and a strap in theact of being unbuckled.

6 represents the side bars; 7, the forward under cross-bar; 8, theforward upper crossbar; 9, the rear upper cross-bar; 10, the under rearcross-bar, and stud-supporter, and 11 the stud which serves as a tongue.The cross-bar 10 extends part way straight across 4 at 12 from eachside, enough to serve the usual purpose of anend cross-bar in confiningthe strap to its proper line of service. Thence its midway portioncurves forward to the middle of the buckle to serve as a base for thestud 11. Thus the curved bar 10 serves the double purpose of an endcrossbar and a midway support for the stud, and it has functions not metby a broad bottom serving as a base for the stud, to wit: It is light,cheap, graceful, and unique in form,

and it permits the under strap to be approached at the back near thestud to be pushed therefrom. The upper cross-bar 9 is the mate to thecross-bar 10 in forming the rear loop of the buckle, and it is located alittle more than its own width to the rear of its mate for two purposes,to wit: First, to enable the strap to be bent downward to the rear ofthe buckle in order that its middle portion may be pushed up off fromthe stud in unbuckling the strap, as shown in Fig. IV; second, it is solocated in order that it may be cast without a core, it being a factknown to themolders art that when one portion of a casting is locatedbelow another portion the two cannot be separated without a core, andthat cores requiring to be separately molded in boxes, then baked, andfinally laid into prints formed therefor in the main mold verymaterially increase the cost of making such articles. The cross-bars 7and 8 are mates in forming the forward loop, and the bar 7 is locatedforward of its mate .in order that it may restrain the strap at the loopend 13 from being bent downward. Thus restrained it cannot beaccidentally pushed up off from the stud 11. Otherwise the buckle mightin service be set free to slide back on the strap and the strap fallloose; and by this location the bar 7 is out from under its mate, andthere are no two parts of the buckle located one above the other. Thusthe whole may be cast in one piece without a core. One end is adapted topermit the strap to be bent to unbuckle it intentionally, and the otherend is adapted to prevent its being unbuckled accidentally.

I am aware that Patent N 0. 364,633 shows a buckle similar to mineexcepting the stud, which in that is designed to pass through only onethickness of strap, While mine holds and must hold two thicknesses, and,furthermore, that has no portion of a cross-bar corresponding to mycross portions 12 at a distance behind the stud to prevent the understrap being accidentally unbuckled. I do not claim a buckle which hasnot the stud l1 and cross portions 12 in the relation to each TO wayportion of the same bar curved toward the middle of the buckle, and astud thereon,

standing vertically through the horizontal plane of the longitudinalopening in the buckle, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in 1 5 presence of twowitnesses.

EPHRAIM LATHAM.

Witnesses:

E. DE L. BRADIN, S. PERIT RAWLE.

